Narcissus

The ugly end of Narcissus

Ancient manuscript sheds new light on an enduring myth

by David Keys

Narcissus, Greek mythology’s most tragic figure, didn’t die of a broken heart, but collapsed into a pool of blood after committing suicide, according to a new discovery. A previously unknown account of Narcissus’s demise – which appears to pre-date all other known versions – has been discovered among ancient manuscripts stored at Oxford University.

This early version – a Greek poem – probably dates from the mid-first century BC and differs from the oft-quoted account by the Roman poet Ovid written about half a century later.

‘Following this discovery it is becoming increasingly clear that the myth was altered by Ovid to broaden its appeal,’ said the Oxford scholar who discovered the poem, Dr Benjamin Henry of the university’s classics faculty.

Narcissus was so beautiful that vast numbers of men (not Echo and other females, in the newly discovered poem) fell in love with him. However, such was his egocentricity that he spurned them all, leaving a trail of heartbreak behind him. Finally, a rejected suitor persuaded one of the gods to deal with him. Narcissus was made to stare for ever at his own image, reflected in a pool of water. The more he stared, the more desperately he fell in love with himself.

According to Ovid, Narcissus – pining from a broken heart – wasted away and died, whereupon he turned into the world’s very first narcissus flower. However the earlier version has now revealed that the original myth probably had a less peaceful, more violent denouement, ending in bloody suicide.